Ainsworth v. Drew

Decided March 15, 1842

Supreme Court of Vermont · decided 1842-03-15

This was an action of book account. Judgment to account was rendered in the county court, and an auditor appointed, who, at a subsequent term, reported a balance due the plaintiff. Upon the coming in of the auditor’s report, the defendant filed a plea in offset, declaring on a promissory note, and in the common counts. The plaintiff objected to the plea, contending that it should have been filed at the term when the action was entered in the county court.

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently February 2019

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Decided 1842-03-15

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¶1The opinion of the court was delivered by

Redfield, J.

¶2No practice in regard to the time, in which pleas in set-off, in actions of book account, shall be pleaded in the county court, has yet been settled. It is only since the last revision of the statutes that any such plea was allowed in this action. The statute in this case does not, as in some others, prescribe the time, within which such plea shall be filed. It must, therefore, be left wholly to the discretion of that court to determine by their general rule, when such pleas shall be filed. And if they have established no such rules, or admit a plea even in opposition to those rules, we have no supervision over their proceeding. It is a matter upon which' they have an absolute discretion, and their decisions, therefore, are in no sense subject to revision in this court.

¶3Judgment affirmed.